Jointly combating abuse

To tackle “new drugs” keeping up preventive and healthcare measures across the EU and curbing international drug-trafficking. Drug abuse continues being a plague for Europe. Over the past days, the EU Commission and the European Drug Monitoring centre in Lisbon issued a report on the phenomenon with possible solutions involving Member States (responsible for ad hoc policies), the EU and civil society as a whole.A widespread reality. “Drug abuse and related crimes affect the lives of millions of Europeans. Despite some encouraging progress, we need to do more to reduce the harm caused by drugs and react quickly to new substances entering the market”. On November 9 Viviane Reding, the EU’s Justice Commissioner released the first review of the EU Drugs Action Plan 2009-2012, which is subject to changes or modifications. “I call on EU governments to keep up drug prevention and treatment services in the context of the economic crisis, which could worsen the drug situation in the EU”, said the Commissioner. According to the Executive over the past 18 months the EU made significant progress in reducing drug trafficking and consumption. The Commission indicated as priority acting to stop so-called “legal highs” proposing on 20 October an EU-wide ban on mephedrone, an ecstasy-like drug that “is already illegal” in 15 Member States. Still too many deaths. According to the report, “Important progress has also been made in blocking imports of cocaine and heroin” in Member States. However, “more work is needed to stem a rise in cocaine-related deaths”. The Commission made known that every year, 6,500 to 7,000 people die in the EU from a drug overdose. “Between 25 and 30 million Europeans are estimated to have taken some type of illicit drug in the last year, including 4 million who took cocaine”. There were 1,000 cocaine-related deaths. Commissioner Reding highlighted the achievements that have been made. These include a fall in the number of new HIV cases among drug users, “following substantial investment by EU governments in preventive measures”. The report underlines the “increase in the combined use of legal and illegal drugs”, along with “the swift change in drug trafficking routes” as organized crime groups seek to go around barriers set up by EU Member States.The repercussions of the crisis. “A period of austerity lies ahead for Europe, marked by increasing youth unemployment rates. In this framework the fear is there may be an increase of problematic forms of drug consumption”. The European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) in Lisbon drew up an analysis and delved into a specific issue previously highlighted by the Commission in its yearly report issued November 10. “Depressed and marginalized communities have always been exposed to high risks of drug abuse, also due to the collateral damage produced by criminality and lack of security”. The estimated figures on drug use in Europe among the adult population (15 to 64), are “reason for concern”. In the past year “occasional” cannabis use has involved 23 million Europeans, amounting to almost 7% of the adult population. 4 million are occasional cocaine users while 2.5 million use ecstasy. Drug-users? Not only young people. “Drug problems have no age limits”, the Observatory coordinated by Wolfgang Gotz pointed out, as it is no longer simply a “youth phenomenon”. “Europe is experiencing a pronounced ageing of its population” and its “drug-using population is also ageing”; meeting the needs “of older drug users is a growing issue for treatment services”. This is particularly the case in western countries which saw the EU’s first heroin epidemics in the 1980s and 1990s. On average, around one in five (19 %) of all those entering treatment in Europe are aged 40 or over.